Queueing for U2

[The Nal]

Yeah, but you can achieve that by hovering near the barrier entrance halfway through Morrissey.

We're talking about a concerted campaign to be in the very front row. Loads of effort and sacrifice, to get a worse experience than if you were 10 rows further back.

[King Kong]

The best place I have found is right in front of the crush barrier inbetween the sound desk and stage. You can have your back against it without anyone shoving you around and there is usually alot more space to move around. Nice and central for the best view and sound. Got up nearly onto the barrier to have a good letch at Shakira last year and was amazed at some families sitting on chairs in the mosh pit area and tutting when their view was blocked

[worthyraver]

What you need is a plan of attack - so I've drawn one up...

Colour Code:

Yellow = security

Black - random crowd members

Green - still waiting for Morrissey to come back on

Blue - waiting for Pulp

Red in the centre - Mr ICGenie

Red on the right - me.

System - stand by me, wait for crowd to bounce, lean to the left. You'll be front and centre in no time...

[hashcity]

Thats just a normal day. It always makes me laugh how groups build up little seated encampments just like being on the beach at Skeggy and then moan if somebody stands in front of them when they are sat down. Thats fine at the back but not at the bleeding front......and they normally have the biggest flag so great aunt doris can find them when the golden oldie is on....and they moan that the acts swear to much in front of the brood of twenty 5 year olds that they have brought with them....and they dont see why kids have to do drugs whilst chain smoking and chucking warm lager down their throats. Growwwwl

[Gnomicide]

This is genius can you draw me up something similar for Chemical Brothers on the Saturday night?

[dinky123]

dont

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

OK:

Colour Code:

Yellow = security

Black - random crowd members

Green - still waiting for White Lies to come back on

Blue - waiting for Pulp

Red in the centre - Imogen of of Big Brother

Red on the right - Worthy Raver

System - stand by Worthy Raver, wait for crowd to bounce, lean to the left. You'll be front and centre in no time...

[MamaJojo]

Have done this twice - once for McCartney in 2004, and last year for Muse.(and yes, am waiting for the inevitable sarky comments about wasting a day etc etc but hey-ho, thats what we wanted to do

2004 was a pleasure. Got down there for about 12.30pm. Already found about 6 rows solid at the pyramid barrier. Some of the acts that day were a real pleasure, and ones that I wouldn't necessarily have watched had we not decided to go down there early on - Spearhead was fantastic (and very emotional actually!!), felt like we were on a school trip for LostProphets that many teenagers turned up, had a good old singalong to Starsailor & Scissor Sisters, Black Eyed Peas set was full of energy and actually really enjoyed it, and then of course the Paul McCartney set was epic - I cannot even begin to explain how it felt to be stood right at the front with that many people singing along behind - will never forget Hey Jude, Live and Let die and even a slower one like Blackbird (yes, there were tears) for as long as I live. After the first few acts (so by about 2pm) we got to the barrier without any pushing or shoving necessary, and it was also easy enough (right up to the start of BEP) to get in and out of the crowd for loos/food etc. The actual McCartney set was fine as well, no major crowd surges, didnt feel penned in at all, stage view was great, absolute pleasure actually. added bonus of getting to meet some great people during the day who were doing the same thing.

2010 for Muse - got down there about 11am (ish) again. Walked straight up to the front of the barrier. Area in front of the stage was hotter than hell - direct sunlight - no shade whatsoever. Tinchy Stryder was painful (imagine 2 30somethings in in the midst of a sea of tweenies - dire), The lightning seeds was actually really slow going and crowd barely responded at all until 'three lions',

would rather stick rusty forks in my eyes than watch Jackson Browne again, Seasick Steve bloody fantastic,

as were Dead Weather,

Shakira -meh, Scissors (good old singalong)

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/jojovontrapp/glasto2010145.jpg

and Muse were epic. Difference this time was we didn't get to see a sodding thing of the set that we'd waited all day for!!

Soon as Tinchy Stryder had finished the crowd around us thinned, once it had filled up again for Lightning Seeds basically they didn't move. From that minute on all our immediate neighbours (ie the 30 or 40 in immediate vicinity and probably more) stayed with us right through to the end of the night. There was no chance of getting out to the bog and getting back in to the same place without a fair bit of argy-bargy and tbh it was so frigging hot I couldn't be bothered anyway - was drinking all day but getting so dehydrated didnt need the loo anyway!! Met a great group of people, our immediate neighbours didnt have any food or soft drinks (really need it to hydrate enough) with them - and in my best girl scout way I'd come prepared so gave them some of ours, had a great laugh chatting with them all day, the security guards were bloody brilliant - one in particular we chatted with all day (and he kept us well supplied with Haribo & water as well

but by the time Shakira started the crowd surges were already going mental, some bloke about four rows behind us had told his 7 year old daughter to squeeze to the front, she popped up in between us and five of us spent most of that set trying to protect her from the crowd surges whilst shouting to her sodding father to call her back or at least allow her to be pulled over the barrier (it was getting that dodgy) - evrytime the security guys or us went to grab her to lift her out she'd duck down, wriggle back or squirm so much you couldnt get hold of her (there was literally NO space to get hold of her if you can get what I'm saying)- plus the father was screaming and swearing at us in what language I'm not sure because we were trying to lift her out and he didnt want that to happen.

By the time Scissors started the crush was insane. My bloke spent the whole set with some 6'ft4 bloke in pink lycra screaming "I love you Jake!!" whilst (as the crowd surged so often) doing what felt like dryhumping him from behind (and this guy was REALLY enjoying the scissor sisters IYKWIM ) - he's not best impressed that he cannot stand Scissor Sisters but has sat through their set twice at Glasto now. By the time Muse came on the pit at the front there was a nightmare. I've been in a fair few mosh pits in my life but it was a F**king nightmare. So many people were being pulled out that security spent the whole set on the step up to pull them out so we couldn't see F**k all, any glimpse we did get was then obscured by being kicked in the head by those who were coming out over us (and by the end of the set elieve me that felt like half the pyramid crowd), people were pissing where they stood, some little twat behind me decided he wanted to be where I was and so spent half the set punching me in the head, and the crowd surges were agony, pushed up so hard aginst the barrier that you couldn't breathe and really felt like all the air was getting crushed out of you. At one point (during Newborn) I had my eyes closed singing and a guard tried to pull me out - it was only lovely security dude who had looked after us all day that stopped him (with a laughter accompanied warning - "she's been here all day mate, if you try to pull her out she will rip your f**king head clean off")....but the surges were lifting us off our feet and crushing us further up into the barrier. It got that bad that my bloke was going to get pulled out (no chance he was leaving me there), so I stuck my arms either side of him and pushed back as far and as hard as I could to create at least a lungful of air for the pair of us - joking after that my more than ample posterior had managed to hold back 100,000 people!! In all the gigs I've done I have NEVER in my life been in any moshpit or crowd that was as bad as that.

(cont below)

[MamaJojo]

I dont know which way U2 is going to go... I know there are a fair few hardcore fans going, okay, so its not going to be a moshpit like Muse but it could get pretty mental and he'd better be ready for that. But I wouldn't do it again. I feel cheated out of that Muse gig and didn't enjoy it even half as much as I probably would have done had I been 20 or 30 rows back. If he does do it, then I'd suggest going down between 11 or 12, and going prepared with enough food and drink, and at least a bottle to piss in in case of need. He could end up meeting a great group of people, having a great day, or he could end up feeling cheated somehow out of a gig he's been desperate to see. I know that I wouldn't do it again though.

[MamaJojo]

have found two pics that illustrate the crowd better:

In the dead weather one, we're just by the yellow banner(ours) strung across the railing.

In this one, we're behind the security guards hahaha

Edited April 26, 2011 by MamaJojo

[arcade fireman]

Sneakily sprinkle MDMA on his cornflakes and play as much Screamadelica as you can.

I don't think he'll be wanting to go to U2 at all.

[bonosbaby25]

I know there's a few pretty hardcore U2 fans coming just for the friday.. lots of people I know want to be front rail.. not my idea of fun and they're gonna miss so much of the festival.. there's some coming over from Europe who say they will be back at home by saturday lunch.. sad, sad people.. I for one, won't be queueing all day.. but good luck to the OP's hubby.. I reckon there will be lots of others to keep him company..

[ICGenie]

Thanks for the intelligent replies! To those being snarky, he's 40 years old and has been at the front for many many gigs in the past. He's perfectly aware of what it will be like, just wondered what sort of time people have started gathering in the past.

I'm going for the "arrive to see How Soon Is Now and start burrowing through" option myself!

[Gnomicide]

There's no crush barrier at the Other stage!

[duggie20]

he could always stand a bit further back then set the video to record u2 ready for when he gets home he can pull the arm chair as close to the tv as he likes without fear of needing a jimmy or getting crushed

[budvar]

I was a bit of a right at the front chap myself when I was younger. I seem to remember Coldplay at V2003 was the tightest squeeze.

These days I still prefer to be in the front section; for the Pyramid this means within the crash barrier (is it 4 years that it's been there now?)

I suspect U2 will have more die-hard fans in attendance than any Pyramid headliner we've ever seen (especially as they gave those hardcore fans a year to mobilise to get tickets)

All in all I think that's going to make it interesting down the front on the Friday evening...

PS Has to be Methuselah; what kind of sod lives until 969?

[emmaking]

i think i'll probably give in to temptation and try and get as close to the front as possible. Although i wont be sitting at the pyramid stage all day. Will prob get there in between wu tang clan and bb king. I'm quite happy to chill out and explore for the rest of the weekend. Although im a huge fan of elbow as well so will it be the pyramid again for saturday night???!!!! hmm.

Plan b is performing on sunday. There will defo be mosh pits going on the front then if its gunna be anything like his tour he's just done.

[Bort]

I got pretty close for Neil Young (20 rows back) just by walking through the crowd during The Specials and joining the rush after their set. Same with Blur. For U2, if you arrive during BB King and just keep moving forward whenever the opportunity arises and I imagine you'll be very close to the front for U2. But front row? It is a statistical certainty that there will be enough hardcore U2 fans in attendance that will be camped out all day, so who knows. IMHO, there are too many can't-miss acts on other stages to justify camping out all day.

Whenever you decide to arrive at the Pyramid stage, attacking from the left side helps tremendously. I walked very close to the front for Willie Nelson and again for Snoop Dogg without spending any extra time there

Edited April 27, 2011 by Bort

[LondonTom]

but by the time Shakira started the crowd surges were already going mental, some bloke about four rows behind us had told his 7 year old daughter to squeeze to the front, she popped up in between us and five of us spent most of that set trying to protect her from the crowd surges whilst shouting to her sodding father to call her back or at least allow her to be pulled over the barrier (it was getting that dodgy) - evrytime the security guys or us went to grab her to lift her out she'd duck down, wriggle back or squirm so much you couldnt get hold of her (there was literally NO space to get hold of her if you can get what I'm saying)- plus the father was screaming and swearing at us in what language I'm not sure because we were trying to lift her out and he didnt want that to happen.

Edited April 27, 2011 by LondonTom

[idontgetoutmuch]

I think mamma Jo says it all really, careful what you wish for.

Last year we tried to get to the front for Faithless, and got as far as the crush barrier, there were people who had been camped out all day for Stevie who were able to get out and back as their friends's saved their chair for them. At least they were actually sat in them, I posted this last year re a girl who wanted to stand and have her chair too;

I'm normally very easy going, and although the chairs annoy me, I don't want anything at Glastonbury 'banned'.

I think that Faithless was perhaps affected by people marking their spot for Stevie with their chairs. We were at the second barrier and there was an encampment set up by Stevie fans.

When the girl in front of me stood up for Faithless, I very politely asked her if she could fold down her chair. It took up more room than the 4 of us had to dance in. I explained that it was because we wanted to dance, she gave me a filthy look and said that the chair was not folding.

Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the way she spoke to me, but I did get 'The Rage'

My initial thought was to throw her hats and her bag, which she had on the chair, into the crowd behind me. I thnk I came up with a better solution:-

I DANCED ON HER CHAIR

She did not like this, and screamed at me to get off her chair, she proceeded to tip me out, but my friends caught me. Guess what though, it had the desired effect and she managed to fold the f*cker up.

So if they are at the barrier, they don't fold it down when asked, and it is taking up your dancing space, then I urge you all to do as I did.

I'm not likely to see any of this years headliners at the Pyramid, and I don't think that the chairs are such an issue at the other stages so no chair dancing for me this year.

[Gnomicide]

When I arrived for Gorillaz last year there was a small girl standing on a step ladder

I don't mind who goes down the front but they've got to be prepared for more than a little pushing and shoving. I remember being at a ... wait for it .... Gary Glitter show years ago and there was a woman holding a little girl, who was probably about 6, near the front. When he came on and the crown surged, she got really narky, screaming at everyone to stop pushing.

I guess if we knew then what we know now about Gary Glitter, she wouldn't have taken a six year old girl to see him.

Incidentally, the support act on that tour was Girlschool. He must have been made up when his agent told him he'd booked them.

[Kyelo]

I remember being at a ... wait for it .... Gary Glitter

[kingjamma]

Plan b is performing on sunday. There will defo be mosh pits going on the front then if its gunna be anything like his tour he's just done.

Edited April 27, 2011 by kingjamma

[MamaJojo]

I don't mind who goes down the front but they've got to be prepared for more than a little pushing and shoving

[duggie20]

download past few years have had a barrier that runs from the middle barrier down to the stage so you have 2 halves at the front not too sure if it helps stop the crushing?